MSF EA Legal Registration Project Manager

The Project Manager supports MSF Eastern Africa to implement primary legal registration in Rwanda and secondary branch registration in Kenya. The role involves coordinating legal registration processes, advising management on legal requirements, and ensuring compliance with local laws to enable MSF EA's operational activities in the region.

Responsibilities

• Review and update the registration framework, including timeline for execution and documentation requirement list for Rwanda.
• Coordinate between MSF EA teams and Rwandan local lawyers in the collection of required legal documentation for the registration.
• Supervise the registration process in Rwanda to achieve primary registration as quickly and securely as possible.
• Supervise the drafting of the legally required framework Memorandum of Understanding, Action Plan and all related documents as part of the registration package.
• Advise MSF EA management team and Board on local legal requirements regarding statutes, approvals, operational presence, social mission activities, financial and budgetary aspects in Rwanda.
• Identify and liaise with Kenyan local lawyers to gather legal registration requirements for a Rwandan organisation to open a branch headquarters in Kenya.
• Share progress with MSF EA on a weekly basis highlighting changes to timelines and potential bottlenecks.
• Present registration framework to MSF EA and ILD for Kenya, including timeline and documentation requirements.
• Coordinate between MSF EA teams and Kenyan local lawyers in the collection of required legal documentation for Kenya registration.
• Supervise the registration process in Kenya to achieve secondary registration as quickly and securely as possible.
• Advise MSF EA management team and Board on possible statutory changes required for Kenya registration.
• Coordinate with the Regional Protocol Office to ensure secondary registration aligns with Host Country Agreement integration objectives.
• Share progress with MSF ILD and MSF EA on a bi-weekly basis highlighting changes and bottlenecks.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in law, international law, with relevant experience in international or comparative legal research.
• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in project management, legal/regulatory affairs, NGO/INGO registration, compliance, or institutional development, ideally with an international NGO or humanitarian organisation.
• Demonstrated experience managing or supporting NGO/INGO legal registration processes, including primary registration and branch/subsidiary registration.
• Experience with Rwanda and/or Kenya registration frameworks is highly desirable.
• Strong knowledge of Rwandan NGO/INGO registration law and Kenyan INGO/NGO regulatory requirements, including statutes, MoUs, action plans, branch registration, and compliance obligations.
• Familiarity with MSF structures is desirable.
• Proven ability to develop workplans, timelines, documentation lists, risk tracking, and progress reports; coordinate multiple stakeholders; and deliver under tight deadlines.
• Excellent ability to draft/review legal documents, statutes, MoUs, action plans, registration packages, and briefs; ability to advise senior management, Board, and teams on legal, statutory, financial, and operational issues.
• Strong experience liaising with local lawyers, government authorities, MSF teams, management, and Board members.
• Excellent negotiation, intercultural, and communication skills.
• Fluency in English (spoken and written) is required.
• French, Kinyarwanda, and/or Swahili are an asset.
• Ability to work autonomously, handle confidential matters, and commit to MSF principles and humanitarian values.

Skills

• International Law
• Legal Research
• Project Management
• INGO Registration
• Compliance Management
• Institutional Development
• Rwandan NGO Law
• Kenyan NGO Regulatory Requirements
• Legal Document Drafting
• Statutes Drafting
• Memorandum of Understanding Drafting
• Action Plan Development
• Risk Tracking
• Progress Reporting
• Stakeholder Coordination
• Legal Advisory Services
• Negotiation
• Liaison with Governments
• Legal Compliance
• Legal Registration
• NGO Registration Process Management

Languages

English